There are many systems working on that, one that springs to mind is perkeep (https://perkeep.org/):
- everything is a blob of bytes. perkeep stores everything based on their hash
- a blob of bytes can be a photo, in which case there's a little metadata blob pointing to it, explaining what it is, where it was taken, the modification time, maybe some additional details, and a title. That blob is also stored and retrievable with its hash
- or it can be a video, or a tweet, or a file... in any case that's just an additional metadata blob that creates structure out of the raw bytes
- those metadata blobs are indexed and searchable
The end result is a massive store (possibly implemented with remote storage, it doesn't matter, it's all the same API) with "fragments" in it and a search bar to access it. Search for "Scotland" and you'll see the poem you wrote while you were there, along with your flight ticket and some pictures of the mountains.
I think we've all been using the Downloads or Desktop folder as a user's temp folder, because we knew something we did was recent so it should still be there, and although it's not how it's supposed to be it still works very well that way. But computers are made to serve us, so if that is the way we're using the computer then the software should change to better suit us:
- no software made in 2021 should have a "Save" button: it should be done automatically, such that I can leave the application and reopen it, or open another one that can read the same file, and be back to the state I was in before.
- for some files I just don't care where they are saved, I only want them to be accessible in a "Recent" folder. The only way I've found to make it bearable on windows is to use everything (https://www.voidtools.com).
- for even more files I want to access them not based on some name I put but based on more metadata. We have the tools to automatically categorize photos, I want to be able to search for garden photos without going through a third-party's bloated website.
- some of the files have a specific hierarchy because they depend on each other. A path should be just another metadata instead of being so central to the identity of "something"
All of this is doable with something like perkeep, but its API is not really made for being used as such; it's more geared towards backing up one's digital life and digging through it. Maybe we don't have the right software, but I'm sure we have the right bricks already.
> no software made in 2021 should have a "Save" button: it should be done automatically […]
Just because I've opened a document that doesn't automatically imply that I want any changes to be saved without asking, though - it's not that uncommon that I open something for reference purposes only, so that any changes are either unintentional (accidentally hit a button or started typing with the wrong window focussed), a side-effect of copying data into something else (e.g. unhiding some layers in a graphics or CAD file so I can copy that data) or else just some experimental or otherwise temporary changes that I certainly don't want to keep, though.
- everything is a blob of bytes. perkeep stores everything based on their hash
- a blob of bytes can be a photo, in which case there's a little metadata blob pointing to it, explaining what it is, where it was taken, the modification time, maybe some additional details, and a title. That blob is also stored and retrievable with its hash
- or it can be a video, or a tweet, or a file... in any case that's just an additional metadata blob that creates structure out of the raw bytes
- those metadata blobs are indexed and searchable
The end result is a massive store (possibly implemented with remote storage, it doesn't matter, it's all the same API) with "fragments" in it and a search bar to access it. Search for "Scotland" and you'll see the poem you wrote while you were there, along with your flight ticket and some pictures of the mountains.
I think we've all been using the Downloads or Desktop folder as a user's temp folder, because we knew something we did was recent so it should still be there, and although it's not how it's supposed to be it still works very well that way. But computers are made to serve us, so if that is the way we're using the computer then the software should change to better suit us:
- no software made in 2021 should have a "Save" button: it should be done automatically, such that I can leave the application and reopen it, or open another one that can read the same file, and be back to the state I was in before.
- for some files I just don't care where they are saved, I only want them to be accessible in a "Recent" folder. The only way I've found to make it bearable on windows is to use everything (https://www.voidtools.com).
- for even more files I want to access them not based on some name I put but based on more metadata. We have the tools to automatically categorize photos, I want to be able to search for garden photos without going through a third-party's bloated website.
- some of the files have a specific hierarchy because they depend on each other. A path should be just another metadata instead of being so central to the identity of "something"
All of this is doable with something like perkeep, but its API is not really made for being used as such; it's more geared towards backing up one's digital life and digging through it. Maybe we don't have the right software, but I'm sure we have the right bricks already.